JUST RELEASED: The updated research in the March/April issue including Part II and III of Cutler and Genovese's monograph challenges the study recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) which found an "improvement in sex lives" for women after hysterectomy.

The Maryland Woman's Study (Rhodes et al. Vol. 282. #20) published in JAMA asked women to rate their sex lives at 12 and again 24 months post-surgery compared to their sexual activity 30 days prior to surgery. In their monograph update, the authors argue that using the immediate pre-surgical "sexual wasteland" as a baseline to demonstrate a post surgical "improvement" substantially erodes the validity of the Rhodes conclusions:

"With a baseline of below-average sexual activity, the post-hysterectomy 'improvement' is a chimera."

Cutler and Genovese fear this erroneous finding of an "improvement in sex lives" will sway women towards unnecessary hysterectomies. They caution those who read reports that claim women's sexual lives will be improved by hysterectomy to look closely at the baseline. Compared with "what" will her sex life be improved?

"With a baseline of below-average sexual activity, the post-hysterectomy 'improvement' is a chimera."

The March/April issue of the reprinted monograph addresses this controversial topic as well as providing extensive current research on the following issues: Sex Hormones and Bone, Depression and Sex Hormones, Four Components of Sexual Health, Indications of Hysterectomy, and Care of the Woman after Hysterectomy.

Also, currently in circulation, PART I of the monograph addresses current research on: Sex Hormones, Perimenopause, Pheromonal Modulation of Brain and Behavior, Sexual Behavior of Women, and Prospectively Measured Changes in Global Sexual Behavior After Application of Putative Pheromones.

An excerpt from the monograph:


"In the past twenty years, hundreds of peer-reviewed studies have provided a significant body of information to guide the health care of women in the second halves of their lives. Physicians who care for women patients should understand the interplay between sex hormones and the patient's well being. Estrogen, progesterone, testosterone...play significant roles in maintaining the cascade of physiologic events that promote healthy bone metabolism, sexual interest and response, cardiovascular function, adequate sleep and energy cycles, competent memory, and a strong immune system in women."


From the FOREWORD to the monograph by Editor in Chief, Sarah L. Berga, M.D.:


"To some extent, wellness is an unfamiliar concept for physicians. Most of our medical training has focused on identification and relief of pathologic conditions.*** More and more, however, physicians are called upon to address health maintenance and to recommend strategies for wellness. *** The two monographs...embrace the theme of wellness and aging and are offered to you, the reader, in consideration of this emerging paradigm shift. There is no better time than the turn of the millenium to reflect on what we, as physicians, are, could be, will be, and should be.

These two monographs raise some difficult questions that are not readily addressed. How healthy can women realistically expect to be as they live longer and longer? Will hormonal preparations serve merely to buttress failing systems or will they slow the rate of aging? What is the role of sexuality in older adults and can it be enhanced by hormones, pheromones, and other agents? How will we, as physicians, figure out who needs what and when? Who will reimburse us for undertaking this role as the guardians and facilitators of wellness?

The foundation for many of these questions rests with having or developing a comprehensive understanding of reproductive physiology. These companion monographs are offered in that context. Some of the material is controversial, but this does not detract from the overall objective. The authors have employed an integrative mind-set to examine the contributions of various endogenously produced hormones and pheromones to wellness in women."